Holy cow!! Freshman that set American 400 record of 50.46 and won Oregon team title today ran 2:04 800 in HS!!!!

everyone in NYC track knew about her and her younger sister (also now at oregon)

Btw she's not a freshman but a senior.

She has also run the 800 every year she has been at Oregon

coach wrote:

everyone in NYC track knew about her and her younger sister (also now at oregon)

All fans of HS track knew about her. She was awesome. As you said, the same was true for Claudia. Didn't they have a cousin or something that was pretty solid as well?

I never heard of her until just now.

She sets an AR in the 400, and you want her to change distances?

Not too bright, are you?

I guess that "everyone" is incorrect. It does only take one counterexample. She was a Junior Olympic and indoor national champion in HS though. Most fans of high school track (on the national level) were aware of her back then. She was regularly covered on Dyestat. It is also interesting to note that she was arguably better indoors that out, even back then:

http://parser.dyestat.com/search.jsp?athID=52734#.UyWgXCjw7ao

Phyllis Francis, Chanelle Price, Ajee Wilson ran at the world greatest age group indoor track and fields meet, Women's Colgate Games around the same time.

"world's greatest age group indoor T&F meet"...umm, that's like saying I played in the best flag football tournament in the world.

{Shaking head}

You're an "800 Fan" but thought she is a freshman?

Gong.

162430 wrote:

I guess that "everyone" is incorrect. It does only take one counterexample. She was a Junior Olympic and indoor national champion in HS though. Most fans of high school track (on the national level) were aware of her back then. She was regularly covered on Dyestat. It is also interesting to note that she was arguably better indoors that out, even back then:

http://parser.dyestat.com/search.jsp?athID=52734#.UyWgXCjw7ao

What do you mean "even" back then? Prior to this year she'd gone 52.01 indoors and 50.86 outdoors and in 2012 53.01/51.22. Hard to argue she's better indoors than outdoors the past few years and this year is too young. If she follows suit she might be close to 49 flat outdoors.

800 fan wrote:

Did you guys see the article on the front page about Phyllis Francis?

LRC wrote:

LetsRun.com distance fans take note. Francis was a better 800m runner in high school than 400m. She ran 2:04.83 as a 16 year old. Mike Fanelli was the only guy who noticed her at the time. Now all of you had better take notice. It was her endurance training that saved her that last 20m tonight, right?

Please Oregon, move her back to the 800.

How low do you think she could go right now in the 800?

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2014/03/track-field-finest-greatness-phyllis-francis-leads-oregon-title/

A real fan of the sport ain't ya. No idea who Ms. Francis is as a high performing Senior at one of the leading track programs in the country. How much more high profile can you get?

Unreal finish to that 4x4. All I got to say is that if I am the Texas coaches I am reaming into Ashley Spencer...she didn't lean at the finish and that was the difference. If she leans, Texas wins. Still an incredible leg by Francis though.

I believe her history points to a number of interesting training ideas.

First some athletes maybe should look to move down instead of up. Distance focused coaches tend to look to adding distance and sometimes this could be a mistake.

Second each athlete is different and should be evaluated through testing in and out of track meets. As a coach I feel it is sound to have the athlete race events above and below their "best event" to figure out if there are opportunities in a different event.

Third many sprint coaches have bought into a training trend that is very minimalis in training load. I believe for 200, 400, and 800meter athletes need what many modern sprint coaches believe would be large loads of speed endurance work in their training history. Anecdotal evdience points to success comes from larger training loads.

Side note: Interesting article was written recently about a young rising sprint athlete got to train with Usain Bolts camp. In this article he was very surprised at the amount of volume the did in their sessions.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/athletics/jarrod-geddes-enjoys-life-in-fast-lane-with-usain-bolt-20140125-31ff5.html

Look for my book to come out next fall titled The Sprinters Compendium.

Steve on a cell in Brooklyn wrote:

A real fan of the sport ain't ya. No idea who Ms. Francis is as a high performing Senior at one of the leading track programs in the country. How much more high profile can you get?

Professional? National team? Olympian? Olympic Medalist? I'd say she has a long way to go before becoming someone all fans should know.

in HS she ran the 400, 600, and 800. At oregon she runs the 200 and 400. Her father prepared her beautifully and Johnson is now preparing her even better.

She would be slower right now in the 800m

Mrr82 wrote:

What do you mean "even" back then? Prior to this year she'd gone 52.01 indoors and 50.86 outdoors and in 2012 53.01/51.22. Hard to argue she's better indoors than outdoors the past few years and this year is too young. If she follows suit she might be close to 49 flat outdoors.

Fair point. I should have left out "even". I was not aware that she was so much better outdoors the last two years. I'm very excited to see what she does during this Spring.

IDK wrote:

Steve on a cell in Brooklyn wrote:

A real fan of the sport ain't ya. No idea who Ms. Francis is as a high performing Senior at one of the leading track programs in the country. How much more high profile can you get?

Professional? National team? Olympian? Olympic Medalist? I'd say she has a long way to go before becoming someone all fans should know.

If you've paid attention to NCAA track and field over the last 3-4 years and consider yourself a fan you should know who Phyllis Francis is.

IDK wrote:

Steve on a cell in Brooklyn wrote:

A real fan of the sport ain't ya. No idea who Ms. Francis is as a high performing Senior at one of the leading track programs in the country. How much more high profile can you get?

Professional? National team? Olympian? Olympic Medalist? I'd say she has a long way to go before becoming someone all fans should know.

Pretty sure she doesn't have a long way to go after just breaking the collegiate and American record while winning the 400. That would be faster than any other American has if you don't understand the concept.